On December 17, 2020, SEC created the Division of Examinations by renaming the now defunct, Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, making it the SEC’s 6th Division joining Enforcement, Corporation Finance, Trading and Markets, Investment Management, and Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA).
A couple of months later, the new Examinations Division announced its 2021 examination priorities, carrying on OCIE’s long standing tradition of annually publishing its examination priorities. The publication of these priorities is supposed to provide a framework for those registered persons and entities to prepare for the onslaught of SEC examiners. These priorities will include a focus on climate-related risks; broker and RIA conflicts of interest; Reg BI; FinTech risks; ESG-related risks; proxy voting policies and practices; BCPs; mutual funds; ETFs; municipal securities and other fixed income securities; variable annuities; private placements; and microcap securities.
